Cursed Waters

14

"I don't get it. That's what started the curse?" Millie asked blankly, staring straight ahead.

"Not quite," Miss Tully said, sighing. "The Drake family was horrified. They'd risked everything, and had lost everything, because of Moira. That's how it felt, anyway. In a frenzied fury, the Drakes went to a local family known for their special abilities, and called for a curse upon the Clearwater family. They didn't have much to pay with, except the friendship of their family for generations to come. Thankfully for the Drakes, the head-witch was a bit of an idiot, and agreed to the terms. That night, the Clearwater women were cursed to die after a moment of true happiness — and take any man that loved them down with them." 

Millie felt like she was going to be sick. Pressing her hands to her mouth, she stood up and stumbled forward.

This was so, so wrong. She was paying for the anger of a woman that had to be over a hundred years old? Because her ancestor had fallen in love?

Bile rose in Millie's throat and she rushed into Miss Tully's kitchen, ignoring Brandon calling her name. Her hips slammed into the basin of the sink as she leaned over and let the vomit come up. The tears she'd felt building behind her eyes all morning splashed down her cheeks and mixed with her vomit in the sink.

Behind her, Miss Tully sighed. "The poor girl never saw it coming."

"Who?" Brandon asked. "Moira or Millie?"

"Both," Miss Tully said. "You should take her to your mother."

"My mother?" Brandon sounded horrified, and then livid. "I don't know —"

"She can tell Millie what she has to do."

"Yes, I know that, but —"

"Brandon, take the girl to your mother. And don't think I won't be calling her to make sure you got there." Miss Tully's tone bore no arguments, and as Millie turned on the faucet to wash out the sink and her mouth, she heard no reply from Brandon. Instead, there was a short exhale of breath, the sound of feet marching away, and the front door slamming behind him. "He's a little bit testy, lately," Miss Tully said, to Millie.

Her voice was much closer than it had been before and Millie practically jumped when she felt the older woman's hand on her back, running soothing circles around the base of her spine.

Millie turned off the water and turned around. "Why?"

"The curse is something he's always grown up with, sort of like a terrifying imaginary." Miss Tully watched Millie, one blonde-white eyebrow raised. "He's always known it was you, since he was a child, and he's always feared you. I think now that he's actually breathed the same air as you, it's even more terrifying."

"I don't get it. Why?"

"You'll have to figure it out for yourself," Miss Tully said, shrugging.

"I thought you didn't like when witches were omniscient," Millie snapped.

"I'm not being omniscient as a witch," Miss Tully said, "but I am being vague as Brandon's grandmother." Millie barely had time to react to that info-bomb before Miss Tully was talking again. "Now, go, girl, before he drives off without you."

Millie walked past Miss Tully. Her mother's diary lay open on the ground, and Millie bent to pick it up, her breath caught in her throat. She was still dizzy from vomiting.

"You'll be okay," Miss Tully promised, putting her fingertips to Millie's shoulder blade. "I see a daring adventure in your future — and a boy with beautiful blue eyes."

Her first thought was Sam. But didn't he have brown eyes?

Millie looked at Miss Tully. "But do you see me growing older? Do you see me breaking the curse? Do you see me surviving the summer?"

Miss Tully's sad smile was all the answer Millie needed.

By time Millie got outside, Brandon was sitting in the front seat of his car. Millie bent at the waist to peer in through the front window.

"Are you going to get in?" He asked at the same time she said, "I'm taking my car."

Brandon's eyes narrowed at her and his mouth flattened into a tight, thin line. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

It was Millie's turn to glare at him. "What? Do you think that if you don't have me within sight for every second, I'll do something crazy? Like, oh God, die?"

Brandon faced forward, his jaw tight. "Follow close behind. We don't have time to get lost."

"I have to make one stop before we go to your house."

"What kind of stop?" Brandon asked, and she could see the spittle gathering at the corners of his mouth.

"My house."

"Oh hell no." Brandon turned to stare at her. "We don't have the time —"

Millie stepped back from the car, throwing her hands into the air. "What the hell do you mean, we don't have the time? Are you aware of the exact day and time I'm going to die? Do you think that, honestly, I'm going to die in the next hour it takes for me to talk to my family? If so, fine. I'm still going home. I'd at least like to tell my sisters I love them."

Brandon's mouth hung open, either in shock or anger, or maybe a mixture of the two. "Look—"

"I'm going home," Millie interrupted him. "You can either drive your ass to your mommy and wait for me there, or follow me to the house. Right now, I honestly don't care."

Millie spun away from Brandon's car and marched over to where her car was parked behind his. She refused to look back and make eye contact with him, but as she yanked open the driver side door, she did notice Brandon's burning stare in the rear view mirror.

Unable to resist the urge to be a jerk, Millie raised her hand up and flipped him off. Brandon's dark expression didn't change, but she did notice that his mouth twitched into a small smirk as she slid into her car.

She tried to feel some sort of sympathy for Brandon. His best friend could possibly die because he was a really nice guy.

Suddenly, his behavior toward her over the years made a lot more sense. He had to have been terrified of getting close, of ever once being the reason she would smile.

And yet Millie didn't really feel bad. He wasn't the one that was going to die.

She also had a feeling Brandon wouldn't want her to feel bad for him.

As she started her car and eased backward, careful to drive around the pothole once she got turned back down the hill, she glanced in the rear view mirror.

The first thing she noticed was Miss Tully standing on the front porch, watching the cars with apprehension. And the second thing Millie noticed was Brandon's car following her.